"Dust Free" Footing for indoor?

[Vandy]

I’m struggling with what to do in my indoor - current footing is fine when watered daily but cost of watering is getting OUT. OF. CONTROL. as my water cost per gallon has recently tripled…not to mention the waste of water, a precious commodity in the desert. It costs something like $1,000 per month to maintain this little tiny arena! :eek:

So…I have been looking into dust-free footing options. I know that a lot of people like Travelright/Travel Light. Any other options that are worth exploring? Would sand/rubber require less watering that my current broken-down Fibar - it’s certainly waaay cheaper than Travel Light. The other dust-free footing I’ve looked into (can’t recall the name offhand) needs to be oiled every other year to the tune of a few thousand and a few days’ work per oiling, so that’s less appealing…I guess what I’m looking for is something that requires minimal maintenance, both in terms of upkeep cost and labor, even if the up-front cost for installation is higher. Any suggestions?

[Simkie]

Oil is GROSS. It gets everywhere. It smells gross. God help you if you fall off. Or if you let your horse roll in the arena. Or if your horse has white legs. Or you walk from one end to the other.

No, it’s not horribly dusty. It is dusty enough to leave a layer on everything. Not so dusty you can’t see, but dusty enough to get your barn clothes disgusting and make you blow brown snot.

Maybe I’ve only ridden in poorly done oiled arenas. But I would not CHOOSE that for my own arena, ever.

[msj]

Look into calcium chloride flakes. That’s what a lot of us use in the northern climates. It’s not terribly expensive and will hold the moisture.

I realize that most stores wouldn’t carry road salt products down there but see if you google it and get some info on it.

Worst case scenerio is that you’d have to pay shipping costs but if you put down enough of it, it should last for a yr or more. I haven’t done my indoor in over 2 yrs and I know I won’t need to do it for this winter either.

[Lucassb]

My barn has the travelright footing in both the indoor and the outdoor; it works a LOT better in the indoor, frankly, and most people really like it. It is true that it is dust-free, and although like all footing, it requires some maintenance, it doesn’t require watering at all.

[myvanya]

Not to hijack, but does anyone know about how much the travelright or travelite footing costs for, as an example, a standard dressage (20x60m I think) indoor arena? I priced just sand and rubber mix and it was pretty expensive but my banr really needs to either add to the rubber and sand that they have or replace it all together as their footing is way to thin. I know they don’t really have a budget for it though, so we are looking at doing schooling shows etc. to raise funds but I have not been able to easily get quotes on other types of footings. (I hesitate to contact someone at the company when it will be a while before we are getting it and when I am not really the one who would be purchasing it; I am just helping out)

[Vandy]

[QUOTE=myvanya;4382694]
Not to hijack, but does anyone know about how much the travelright or travelite footing costs for, as an example, a standard dressage (20x60m I think) indoor arena? [/QUOTE]I just priced it out for mine which is slightly smaller than standard dressage size. Cost for Travel Light was $42,000 just for the material, not including base or installation. Would likely be a little less if you are on the east coast.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Travelright products but since it’s such a big investment I want to be sure I research some alternatives.

[BigHorseLittleHorse]

Unfortunately, I have no idea where they got it or how much it cost…

but a barn where I boarded in college had shredded leather footing in their indoor. It was delivered in small strips, and as the horses used it, the strips were reduced to an extremely fine powder. It was light and fluffy, and the horses loved it. And zero dust. You could really feel the difference on that footing – every single horse got much more suspension in their stride when in the indoor. And it was great for rehabbing my horse from a suspensory injury.

[myvanya]

:eek: I am with you on that. Thanks for the info.
We have the rubber sand mix in ours and just water regularly but are on well water so I don’t think it costs us nearly as very much for the actual water; not sure though. I looked at just adding more rubber and sand to ours and it was closer to $12,000 for a pretty good amount I think.

However, watering is a pain in the rear and takes a while, reducing the usable time of the arena, and if you screw it up (too much or too little) it is no fun, so I am trying to explore other options a little, but the budget may win out on this one.

[merrygoround]

The arena I use has rubber /sand mix, and they use Magnesium Chloride which is supposed to be more environmentally pleasant. It is sold in some areas as “Dust Down”, because of its hygroscopic action. I haven’t seen this arena watered in over a year. Of course we do have humidity. :sadsmile:

[Quinn]

I used Magesium Chloride in my arena for years with superb results. Very very inexpensive to put down and never did it more than once a year. Total cost $200.00/year.

http://community.webshots.com/user/ballyduff

[Vandy]

[QUOTE=merrygoround;4383058]
Of course we do have humidity. :sadsmile:[/QUOTE]And this, I think, is a critical point. We are in the desert, and there is pretty much no humidity. This week we’ve gotten an unusual amount of rain, and for the first time since the spring, I didn’t have to water the arena this morning…otherwise, it’s an every day thing, sometimes twice a day in the dry heat of the summer. I don’t know anyone around here who’s had success with the mag chloride, probably because the air is so dry. It may cut down watering a bit, but it doesn’t seem like the difference is really significant. I actually tried it in my outdoor (sand) and it didn’t seem to make a bit of difference.

[Fourfootedfriend]

For those that use mag chloride or calcium chloride - how much did you have to use? Our arena is 70 x 225, is there a ratio that I can calculate? I think the numbers I had been previously given had me calculating that I would need like $3000 worth of mag chloride which seemed too much.

Thanks

[Quinn]

My arena was small - 136x60 and I used between 10-12 bags at $14.00/bag.

http://community.webshots.com/user/ballyduff

[Plumcreek]

Vandy, I have maybe a smidge more humidity than NM, and the mag chloride does work to lessen the watering to one-third for me. I also have some lignen (tree sap) in my mix as there was a lot of clay dust and I did not want to start over. Is your Fibar totally broken down to dust or still in some strips? Plum Creek Hollow tried it up here when it first came out and removed it after a year or so for the same reason; it does not do well in dry climates, made for the more humid eastern US. ArenaRX will work pretty well out here if you have good washed concrete sand, but you will really have to soak that first application. The dealer up here lives near High Prairie. ArenaRX has not fixed fine dust, does best in sand, but possibly could revive the Fibar, as might mineral oil (white oil). . There is some very small crumb rubber up here near me on closeout price (5 - 2500 lb pallets were available a couple weeks ago) that you could add to new sand. it will stay down in the sand to stop rolling so you use less water. There could be a back hauler trucker going that way. I dunno about the was-based footing for NMdry heat, even indoors. How has the Equation polymer covered sand held up in Carolyn’s old indoor near I-25?

[Chillibin]

Hi there, thought this forum might be able to assist us?? We have a very large shed with concrete floor and we are making it into an indoor… We have timber sides and can add a footing up to 150mm high.
Our concern is that any footing be it sand or wood smalls, does not have a dirt substrate to bind too… Rubber matting under sand is cost prohibitive. Has anyone experience with a concrete substrate in an indoor arena?? Any ideas very welcome… cheers

[Simkie]

@Chillibin

Hi there, thought this forum might be able to assist us?? We have a very large shed with concrete floor and we are making it into an indoor… We have timber sides and can add a footing up to 150mm high.
Our concern is that any footing be it sand or wood smalls, does not have a dirt substrate to bind too… Rubber matting under sand is cost prohibitive. Has anyone experience with a concrete substrate in an indoor arena?? Any ideas very welcome… cheers

You’ll be much better off creating a new thread to ask about your issue, rather than tacking on to this one that’s nearly 10 years old and only tangentially related.